Apparel for bowlers with separable sleeves



June 16, 1964 J. c. SPEER APPAREL FOR BOWLERS WITH SEPARABLE SLEEVESFiled Sept. 15, 1962 v m m M JOYCELEN c. SPEER BY E FIG. 4

.5 ATTORNEYS United States Patent y 3,137,007 APPAREL FOR BOWLERS WiTHSEPARABLE SLEEVES Joycelen C. Speer, Groveland, Fla. FiletlSept. 13,1962, Ser. No. 223,424 1 Claim. (Cl. 2-76) including bending or the freemovement of the arms,. legs and waist of the participant.

Certain activities require definite physical action ineluding indoor andoutdoor sports, housework, gardening and the like, which entailstriding, stretching, bending, extending and swinging the arms, as Wellas other motions in various activities including bowling, golf, tennisand the like, without hampering or restraining the wearers freedom andrelaxed ease of movement, and which apparel is neat and suitable forstreetwear.

Customarily one type of apparel is worn to and fro, and another type ofapparel is worn during certain physical performances. Suitable apparelheretofore has not been provided which would simplify the clothingproblem and permit an outer garment to be worn to, during and from theplace of physical activity. Dilliculties encountered in an effort toprovide apparel suitable for use both on the bowling alleys and forstreetwear have not been solved because it appeared to involve lessattractive clothing, detracting from the appearance and mental andphysical comfort of the wearer, or which would hamper,rdistract or annoyin some respects or to some degree physical movement or action of theindividual. Also prior apparel did not seem to remain in place but wouldride up, tear, pop off buttons or fasteners, due to failure to stretchor yield at specific locations.

It is an object of the invention to provide apparel of attractiveappearance, relaxingly comfortable and suitable for specific use such asbowling or other sports as well as for house and street wear, permittingfree movement of the limbs, waist stretch both side and lengthwise ofthe wearer, and which has a firm encircling fit and thus avoid unduedisplacement such as riding up or twisting during extreme physicalaction of the wearer.

Another object of the invention is to provide apparel for bowlers orothers in the form of a dress, pants or other garments, of neat,attractive appearance and becoming to a wearer engaged in physicalactivity or dressed for the home or street.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawingwherein:

FIG. 1 is a front view of an article of apparel illustrating oneapplication of the present invention;

FIG. 2, a side elevation of a dress for a bowler;

FIG. 3, an enlarged fragmentary side elevation of the elastic waistband;

FIG. 4, a front view of a garment in which the lower portion is in theform of culottes; and,

FIG. 5, a front elevation of a garment in which the lower portion is inthe form of pants.

Briefly stated the garment of the present invention is of one-piececonstruction with sleeves of the length to extend to a positionsubstantially half way between the shoulders and the elbows of thewearer and open from the free outer exterior of each sleeve to the seamwhich joins the sleeve to the main portion of the garment, such openingending slightly forward of the center portion at the top of theshoulder, the edges of the sleeve adjacent the opening being providedwith interlocking fastener means ordinarily referred to as zippers, orother fastener means giving a substantially'continuous positiveconnection and neat appearance and permitting unhampered movement of thearm including movement from a lowered to an elevated position, thegarment also being open lengthwise along the front or elsewhere, acrossand below the waistline, and the dress also including an elastic insertor segment along the waistline at each side permitting the free use ofthe arm, including the raising of the same without causing the lowerportion of the garment to ride up an appreciable amount, the garmentbeing of attractive V appearance regardless of when used for a specific,purpose as well as for streetwear.

With continued reference to the drawing, the garment of the presentinvention is of one-piece construction with an upper portion 10 and alower portion 11 connected by a restricted belt or waistband portion 12.

The garment is open lengthwise through the waist portion and for asubstantial distance above and below the same providing edge portions 13and 14 connected by interlocking fastener means 15, commonly known aszippers, or by other means for providing a substantially continuoussolid connection between the edges 13 and 14.

The lower end of the connection may have a reinforced terminus 16 alongthe lower portion of the thighs of the wearer but the lower portion ofthe garment is of suflicient fullness to allow ample movement of thelegs.

In order that the wearer may have full unhampered use of the arms andfor appearance, sleeves 17 are provided of a length to extendapproximately halfway between the shoulders and the elbows of the wearerand these sleeves are open from their free outer extremities to theshoulder seams by which the sleeves are attached to the main upperportion of the garment with the openings terminating slightly forward ofthe shoulders so that when the arms are moved forwardly and upwardlymovement will be un- I hampered. The edges 18 and 19 of the sleeves areconnected by interlocking type fastener means 20 ordinarily referred toas sliding fasteners or by other type fasteners which provide asubstantially continuous connection across the waist line. This type ofconnection also provides a neat appearance which may be readily openedfor freedom of movement of the arms.

In order to prevent the upper and lower portions of the garment fromriding up an elastic insert 21 is provided at each side of the garmentand this allows the upper portion of the garment to move upwardly as thearm is raised while the waist line remains substantially intact and doesnot pull or cause riding up of the lower portion of the garment.

If desired the upper portion 10 of the garment may be provided with aback panel 10' for the reception of any desired auxiliary matter, suchas name, advertising or other matter.

The invention is intended for use in various types of garments, forexample, in FIGS. 1 and 2 the lower portion of the garment is a skirtll,while in FIG. 4 the lower portion is in the form of culottes 11', and inFIG. 5 the lower portion of the garment is in the form of pants 11".

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the present invention is agarment of neat and pleasing appearance, useful not only when employedin a particular physical activity such as bowling for attractiveappearance as well as comfort and relaxed ease of movement but as ahouse or street dress as well, and the design of the upper and lowerportions thereof are susceptible of wide variations in style.

3,137,007 Patented June 16,1964

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes maybe made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scopethereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which isillustrated in the drawing and described in the specification, but onlyas indicated in the accompanying claim.

What is claimed is:

A one-piece garment of neat attractive appearance and of a constructionto be worn by women to provide minimum interference with the freemovement of the body of the wearer during bowling and other substantialphysical activityas well as for house and street wear, said garmenthaving portions for covering both the upper and lower parts of the bodywith a continuous waistband therebetween containing an elastic insertrestricted to each side to permit stretching of the upper portion of thegarment without appreciable disarrangement of the lower portion, saidgarment having substantially continuous relatively non-elastic front andrear portions and open lengthwise across the waistline and for asubstantial distance along said upper and lower portions of the garment,fastening means for said last mentioned portions of the garment sleevesbeing open from their free outer extremities to their upper connectionwith the garment, whereby when the sleeves are open they afford freemovement of the arms, and readily separable fastening means for the openportions of the sleeves.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,812,593 Karberg June 30, 1931 2,117,449 Porter May 17, 1938 2,153,838Jay Apr. 11, 1939 2,280,479 Cohen Apr. 21, 1942 2,281,984 Martiny May 5,1942 2,762,054 Smith Sept. 11, 1956

